The Peachtree

City City Council has decided to dismiss its lawsuit against the Fayette

County Commission over alleged tax inequities.

The action

was approved 4-0 with Councilman Steve Rapson absent at a specially called

meeting Monday morning. This leaves Tyrone as the only local municipality

in the lawsuit; Fayetteville dropped out of the suit earlier this year.

The lawsuit

claimed that Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone residents were overtaxed

In a press

release issued Monday, Peachtree City and Fayette County officials cited

a need to have good working relations between the two governing bodies.

"In this

time of regionally impacted funding and programs from the state, we need

to work together in ensuring that we do not get mangled in the process,"

said Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown. "Our talks have gone well

and we have addressed some key issues with a positive attitude."

"This

resolution will serve as a foundation for an ongoing positive working

relationship between our two entities," said County Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn.

The City Council

and County Commission have yet to work out a separate required agreement

on how the county's local option sales tax (LOST) funds will be distributed.

The county wants to increase its share of the LOST revenues by 2.5 percent,

which could cost Peachtree City an estimated $400,000 in revenues.

Officials cited

several efforts from both the City Council and the County Commission in

the past nine months to ease the adversarial relationship of the lawsuit.

Earlier this year, Peachtree City executed the jail agreement with the

county which spells out how much the city will be charged per day for

housing inmates at the jail. City officials have also worked on adopting

jail impact fees to help fund construction of the new jail facility. The

city is also allowing the county to use Drake Field as an access point

to dredge Lake Peachtree; some of the dredged material will be stored

in future landscaping of the park.

The County

Commission, meanwhile, has agreed to perform resurfacing projects for

Peachtree City, which will save an estimated $200,000 normal spent for

contractor equipment and labor. The county has also increased its annual

grant for recreation facilities open to all county residents from $50,000

to $150,000.

County officials

have also pledged to covert the Fayette County Water Department's Kelly

Drive storage facility to a park once its new storage facility at the

nearby water treatment plant is completed.

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